Headline brings back memories of Y Felin

YOUR headline about Melin Tregwynt nostalgically reminded me of the close ties that I, and my family, had with this area of the Pembrokeshire coast, and, indeed, with Y Felin itself.

Although the current owners, Amanda and Eifion, bear the Griffiths name, I do not think we have familial ties on the paternal side of our families; nor would they have any reason to remember the author of this letter. However, we may have connections on the maternal side through one of my grandparents, Letitia (née Rees) or Leviticus (“Levi”) George, and, then again, maybe not.

Leaving family trees aside, my Fishguard-based father, William Lloyd Griffiths (aka “Will the Painter”) most certainly worked on Y Felin, and on its retail outlet in Fishguard High Street: additionally Y Felin’s owners would have bought paint and wallpaper from the

Fishguard shop(s) my mother, Greta, ran.

The connection continued when my wife, daughters and I frequently travelled “home” to Fishguard, and, after calling in with my maternal grandparents in Tremarchog, stopped off at Y Felin en route to, or from, the splendours of the Aberbach and Abermawr beaches on the Pembrokeshire coast, north of the Landsker Line: an imaginary border separating the Welsh- and English-speaking north from the monoglot, English-speaking south of the county.

In passing, for professional purposes my married daughter, Sara, also retains the name Griffiths.

To close, I wish the Melin Tregwynt Griffiths siblings every success in the fight against the coronavirus, or, to put it another way, “pob llwyddiant yn y brwdyr yn erbin y gwngwyn Corona”.

The name corona, selected for this particular virus, opens up another story. Based in the Rhondda, it is also connected with north Pembrokeshire through my paternal line: but that will have to wait for another day.

Derek Griffiths Llandaff